In one of the pictures "a beautiful maiden, in the bright
moonlight, came beneath the trees." This is evidently contrary to
Chinese ideas of propriety, for the Classic for girls tells us
that a maiden should not go out at night except in company with a
servant bearing a lantern. As it was bright moonlight, however,
let us hope she was excusable.

This sauntering about in the court is not uncommon if we believe
what the books say, for in the next picture we are told that:

As near the middle summer-house,
The maiden sauntered by,
Upon the jade pin in her hair
There lit a dragon-fly.

The next illustration represented the wife of the famous poet
Ssu-Ma Hsiang-Ju in her husband's wine shop.

This poet fell in love with the widowed daughter of a wealthy
merchant, the result of which was that the young couple eloped
and were married; and as the daughter was disinherited by her
irate parent, she was compelled to wait on customers in her
husband's wine shop, which she did without complaint. In spite of
their imprudent conduct, and for the time, its unhappy results,
as soon as the poet had become so famous as to be summoned to
court, the stern father relented, and, as it was a case of
undoubted affection, which the Chinese readily appreciate they
have always had the sympathy of the whole Chinese people.

One of the most popular women in Chinese history is Mu Lan, the